The present invention relates to cutting apparatus.
In particular, the present invention relates to that type of cutting apparatus which is capable of detaching from a body, such as a body of hay, a portion thereof in the form of an edible block of food, for example, which after detachment from the body can readily be transported to a desired location.
As is well known, succulent edible food such as green food may be protected against deterioration by a suitable preserving agent, and may consist primarily of a raw material such as fresh hay which may be packed and compressed to form a highly compact mass situated, for example, in silos or in outdoor beds. Separation of portions of this food from the mass thereof within a silo, for example, and transportation of the detached portion to cattle or into a manger platform for feeding cattle creates serious problems particularly in cattle farms and especially in those countries where livestock husbandry is practiced. Up to the present time there has no satisfactory solution to this problem, and attempts to solve the problem have given rise very noticeably to changes in production in animal husbandry and in fact to abolishment of cattle stock as a result of the heavy and unattractive work involved. In a country such as Finland which has an extremely short summer, the northerly location of the country and the nature thereof impose serious limitations on producing of cattle which is to form part of the food consumed by the population, and at the present time there are no economically acceptable methods for producing such food. For example, in the case of highly compacted hay or other similar types of food, detachment of portions thereof requires the use of numerous different types of working implements and procedures. It is known to utilize for such purposes, for example, various types of saws, spiked claw-like tearing implements, milling heads, gantry cranes, block and tackle units, and the like. The drawback of all such devices resides in their high cost and in their limited, one-sided service characteristics. It is also to be noted that with known apparatus and methods the edible product is undesirably loosened as it is detached from the compact body, so that the storage quality of such a detached edible product in an intermediate location to serve for consumption during an interval of one or two days is seriously impaired, as is also the case in a silo, with the food reaching rapidly a deteriorating condition under fermentation. It is rarely possible to carry out such a food-detaching operation in a manner which will involve immediate transportation after detachment to a manger. It is therefore frequently necessary to bring about transport of the food to the manger by way of strenuous manual labor. With the prior art apparatus and with the conventional locations of the stored food, it is often essential to provide preparations for food detaching operations prior to actual feeding times which take place twice each day.
Because of the above situation with respect to the handling of edible products in cattle husbandry, silos and livestock buildings cannot be designed so as to have unitary service characteristics. Attempts have recently been made to solve these problems encountered in animal husbandry, but up to the present time satisfactory solutions have not been found. Farmers and advisory organizations have set for themselves the aim of achieving detachment of food from within a silo by cutting procedures, which would be the best solution with respect to maintaining the quality of the food, and which also would be a most economical solution. Detachment of such succulent edible food by cutting is at the present time carried out by using sharpened shovels, saws, or manually operated strikers. However, these implements are also encumbered by numerous drawbacks. In the first place, the food-cutting operations involve slow and cumbersome work, and the cut portion of the food must be lifted either by hand or by aid of a suitable hoisting apparatus, after which the detached food still must be conveyed to the manger either manually or by way of additional equipment.